10 of the Best Free iPhone Apps 2013

With so many thousands of options available from the Apple App Store, choosing the best free iPhone apps seems like a tricky business. You want to get the most out of the limited storage on your iPhone and therefore want the apps that you will use the most. Some of the most useful apps can be found for free in the store and we would like to bring 10 of our favourites to your attention.

Best Free iPhone Apps

Find My iPhone

Find my iPhone could turn out to be your best friend if your iPhone is lost or stolen. Apple’s solution lets you track your iPhone’s position on a map from another iPhone, iPad or iPod. With the iOS 6-specific feature “Lost Mode”, you can lock the device with a 4 digit passcode and a message on the screen such as your contact details to return the phone, allowing you to communicate with the phone and anyone who might have it as you pursue it.

Google Maps

Google Maps used to be included in the iOS default apps, however has now been replaced by the much criticised Apple Maps version. If you want to stick with the Google format then you can download the Google Maps version which includes essential features such as turn-by-turn navigation, meaning you can use your phone in place of an expensive sat-nav system. The fact that the maps are correct might also appeal to you if you like to use map icons on your smartphone (sorry Apple had to have one joke).

Instagram

Despite all the brouhaha about Facebook ownership of Instagram the fact remains that taking and sharing photos with Instagram is still good fun. The app allows you to apply filters to your photos and post them for either your friends or random users to see. You can really add cool effects to new or existing photos and then quickly share them making your efforts look like those of a professional photographer in some cases. A really fun free app for iPhone.

Hootsuite

Updating several social profiles can be a time-consuming process. Not so with the Hootsuite free app for iPhone. Hootsuite allows you to manage several different social media profiles from a number of networks including Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and many more. You can have up to five profiles with a free Hootsuite account and using the app can post to multiple profiles, schedule posts and monitor your own network activity keywords on the network and the effectiveness of posts you make. This is the top social media solution for the iPhone.

Flipboard

Flipboard is a customisable aggregation tool that can be used to catch up with news from all over the web. You just have to decide what news you would like to be displayed, from all the top news providers around the world and you can even specify your Facebook and Twitter accounts or other RSS feeds. The comfortable layut lets you swipe the page to flip to the next page or news story, making navigation and reading from the app a really pleasant experience.

Facebook

The Facebook app makes it easier to keep up with your friend’s posts on-the-go, rather than logging into a browser each time. While the app includes the more crucial Facebook features such as posting, messages chatting and others, it gives a reminder of the time when Facebook was simpler, rather than the expanded application that the desktop layout is today. A perfect tool for sharing media and updates with friends, chatting on-the-go and using the Facebook apps.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a cloud-storage solution app, which allows you to store all of your files online, so that you can access them via Dropbox on any device. This allows you to edit files on your iPhone and save them, upload files so that they are retrievable in the event that you lose your iPhone. Dropbox can be a life-saver if you need to finish a piece of work, but do not want to be tied to a laptop or desktop computer. Many iPhone apps are now configured to save to Dropbox, making your task even easier.

YouTube

Another victim of the purge of Google owned apps from the default list, the YouTube app is now downloadable from the App store. The app does a solid job of navigating you around the video streaming site, however does have the tendency to show recommendations for you that you really aren’t interested in. But that aside it is a great app for accessing YouTube, keeping up with your favourite YouTube channels, and streaming video to your iPhone.

iBooks

While the iPad might be a better sized solution as an eReader, the iBooks app for the iPhone allows you to read books on your smartphone. This can be great for catching up on your reading during a commute or other break in the day. Free app iBooks offers both a store front and an eReader in the same app, where you are able to download books from the iTunes store and read them on the device. The reading setting are customisable in features such as page colour, print size and screen brightness and as eel as eBooks, the app also allows you to read PDF files. iBooks is a solid solution app to turn your iPhone into an eReader.

Imo Messenger

If you run more than one chat and messaging application, then you do not want to have to waste time navigating between them every time you get a new message. Imo messenger allows you to run multiple VOIP and instant messaging profiles at the same time. So you can chat on Facebook, Google Talk, Skype, AIM, Yahoo Messenger and many more at the same time making free calls and messages. The app also includes a walkie-talkie style recorder so you can send voice messages over the IM system. A great solution if you run multiple communication apps.